So you’re volunteering for a mission that will see you spending 3 months getting further from Earth than any human has ever gone, entering a hostile environment and landing on a foreign planet, exploring, taking off and spending 3 months getting back before re-entering Earth’s atmosphere… and you’re worried about a high risk of cancer.

Would it be morally right to allow a volunteer to go on such a mission if you knew it could have serious long term medical consequences, notwithstanding the obvious risks from the rest of the trip?

We all die.

Doesn’t affect me. I’m more of a Twix person.

Risks didn’t stop Sir Edmund Hillary 70 years ago.
How much higher were the risks climbing Everest back then?

So wear a long sleeved shirt and a wide-brimmed hat. Maybe put on a bit of P20

Jesus ! It’s not rocket science 🙄

oh

Not if the risks were explained. What an amazing opportunity though to possibly be the first person to set foot on Mars.

FWIW I reckon it works like this

Neil Armstrong role – hell yeah, first man on Mars, screw the risks
Buzz Aldrin role – heck, why not, I can dine out for as long as I live on this
Michael Collins role – I’m gonna get what? And nobody will remember me! Yeah, forget that!

As long as the volunteer is aware of the risks I don’t see the problem. We didn’t put planes in the sky, and rockets into space without taking risks. And we’ll not get to other planets without taking them either. In fact we’d still be living in caves, or extinct.

I can be as risk adverse as the next person (I’m still weary getting on a plane now!), and I don’t think that is a bad thing, but we wouldn’t be where we are without the nutters amongst us. All credit to them.

Maybe an oldie should go?

Of all the threads in history asking for an opinion on something which doesn’t affect me in the slightest: This wins!

I wouldn’t go anyway. Cos of the Martians.

We’ve done it to ship builders and miners for long enough, for a lot less reward.

Stop me of I’m wrong, but any mission to Mars (currently) would be a one-way affair anyway?

I don’t know, but it would answer Bowies long standing question.

To be honest I’d sign up right away if I could, even if there was a 100% chance of cancer. I’m not being flippant about cancer, I just think the opportunity is amazing.

any mission to Mars (currently) would be a one-way affair anyway?

The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one, they say.

Doesn’t stop people smoking, why would it stop them rocketing through the solar system?

Id go.

I will either die riding into a tree, or in a nappy in an old peoples home.

Morals – WTF, they are individuals subjective views.

( Unless your a god beliver, then of course you should not be using science to go to heaven )

edlong – surely these days they’d have to go outside the spaceship if they wanted to smoke

They could just fake this one as well!

what, like in the film Capricorn One?

Film? That was a documentary.

I don’t know, but it would answer Bowies long standing question.

So Where Were The Spiders…?

…oh crap.. there they are…

To be honest I’d sign up right away if I could, even if there was a 100% chance of cancer. I’m not being flippant about cancer, I just think the opportunity is amazing.

Why would it be amazing?

Months in an enclosed space, then given that it’s likely a one way trip you’d be stranded on a desert planet never to feel the rain or the wind against your skin until you die, separated from the people that love you by millions of miles of barren space.

There are some things worth dying for, a vanity trip to mars isn’t one of them.

muppetWrangler, if you have to ask why its would be amazing you wont understand the answer.

Some people think singlespeed is amazing, I just leave them to it.

you could shut yourself in a caravan for 18 months and get a similar experience.

Months in an enclosed space, then given that it’s likely a one way trip you’d be stranded on a desert planet never to feel the rain or the wind against your skin until you die, separated from the people that love you by millions of miles of barren space.

Quiet you! you’re ruining my idealistic vision of a Star Trek mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before…

Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.
These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice. These two men are laying down their lives in mankind’s most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.
They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.
In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one: in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.
In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.
Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man’s search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.
For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.

— The speech to be used in the event of the failure of Apollo 11

Quiet you! you’re ruining my idealistic vision of a Star Trek mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before…

Sorry. I’d like to see that future too, I just don’t see that a manned mission to mars brings us any closer to it. Would rather see the money spent on a wider variety of unmanned missions. It’s not as sexy, but it’s a whole lot more useful.

Sorry. I’d like to see that future too, I just don’t see that a manned mission to mars brings us any closer to it. Would rather see the money spent on a wider variety of unmanned missions. It’s not as sexy, but it’s a whole lot more useful.

People have said that about the Lunar missions.

This brings to mind Arthur Dent’s speech about the marvel of being on an alien world when they arrive at Magrathea. He romanticises it briefly, then adds ‘.. pity it’s such a dump’.

I suspect the real martian mission will be similar 🙂

People have said that about the Lunar missions.

Not sure if it’s an urban myth but I’ve heard it said more than once that the total computing power of the Apollo 11 mission was comparable to a ZX spectrum. Whether or not that is true the processing power and robotics available today are orders of magnitude in advance of what they were in the sixties.

The machines we can put on the surface of a planet such as mars have evolved to the point that they are able to do a better job than humans given the inhospitable environments in which they must operate. No need for water, food, rest or oxygen, no need to return samples to earth for analysis as we’ve effectively sent the lab to the samples.

I was expecting a Daily Mail style confectionery causing tumours debate.

The machines we can put on the surface of a planet such as mars have evolved to the point that they are able to do a better job than humans given the inhospitable environments in which they must operate. No need for water, food, rest or oxygen, no need to return samples to earth for analysis as we’ve effectively sent the lab to the samples.

But where’s the fun in that!?

Just send Arnold for Two Weeks

Not sure if it’s an urban myth but I’ve heard it said more than once that the total computing power of the Apollo 11 mission was comparable to a ZX spectrum.

I don’t know if it’s true or not either but, having seen a chunk of it first hand, I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest.

Apollo wasn’t possible because of technology, it was possible because of a large amount of inordinately clever people. 60s NASA was truly awesome.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2009/07/21/top-ten-stories-about-the-moon-technology/

That looks interesting, ta; bookmarked, going to go have an evening for now.

could i take my bike ??

Yeah I’ve not read it either, but have had it bookmarked for a while since someone sent me the link 😉

A person’s voluntary sacrifice for the advancement of humanity. Yes, it’s highly moral to assist.